The salary you need to buy a home in the 15 most expensive U.S. housing markets

Homeownership in the largest U.S. cities has been put further out of reach for all but the richest residents, according to a recent analysis by mortgage analytics firm HSH.

A household needs to earn $463,887 to afford a median-priced home in San Jose, California, making it the most expensive of the 50 largest U.S. cities. The estimate assumes no more than 28% of gross income spent on housing costs and a down payment of 20%, plus an average mortgage rate of 7.16% for borrowers with a good or excellent credit score.

Across all of the largest 50 U.S. cities, the income needed to cover the mortgage principal, interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance payments is an average of $104,339, which is well above the national household median of $74,580, per U.S Census data.

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Unsurprisingly, incomes needed to buy a home are highest in the largest American cities, where demand for homes is strong due to job opportunities, especially in the well-paid fields of tech, finance and health care.

A longstanding shortage of homes is another factor that's particularly acute in California, which helps explain why median home prices in some of the state's cities, such as San Jose, are twice the national median of $412,300, per U.S. Census data.

Here's a look at the 15 most expensive cities to afford a home, based on the income needed to buy a median-priced property in that market.

Data for this study was compiled using median home prices from the National Association of Realtors and 30-year fixed mortgage rates from Freddie Mac for the first quarter of 2024.

Mortgage rates for San Jose and San Francisco were 7.16% since median home prices in those cities qualify as jumbo-sized loans. Calculations for all other cities used mortgage rates of 6.75%. Data for jumbo loans — typically over $700,000 in most markets — was sourced from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Property taxes were calculated using U.S. Census data for each city, while insurance costs are based on average rates for each state, using data from the Insurance Information Institute.

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